Jukeboxes have been around for decades and provide users with the ability to select desired music for reproduction in a convenient and advantageous manner. Jukeboxes have conventionally been provided in commercial establishments, such as restaurants and bars, in order to provide desired music on demand for patrons thereof for a fee. Over the last several years, a new generation of jukebox devices have become available that provide significant improvements in the operation thereof for all parties involved. More specifically, the conventional standalone phonorecord and CD jukeboxes are being replaced by digital downloading jukeboxes that are controlled by and communicate with a central server. An example of this new generation jukebox system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,204, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. A leading provider of this new generation of jukebox systems is TouchTunes Music Corporation.
FIG. 1 shows an overview of an exemplary embodiment of a digital downloading jukebox system 10 (hereinafter referred to simply as a “jukebox system”). As shown in FIG. 1, the jukebox system 10 includes a central server 12 that contains a master library of audio content (typically music), as well as or alternatively audiovisual content (typically music and associated video or graphics), that can be downloaded therefrom. The jukebox system also includes a series of remote jukebox devices 16, 16a-16f. Each of these jukebox devices are generally located in a bar, restaurant, club or other desired location, and are operable to play music in response to receiving a payment from a user, such as coins, bills, credit/debit card, etc., and having one or more songs selected by the user for play. In an alternative embodiment, a music service is paid for on a subscription basis by the location, and the selected music is free for the end-user. The jukebox device 16 typically includes a screen 18 that presents information to the user and allows the user to select songs therefrom, as well as an audio system 20 that plays the selected songs. The screen 18 may also be used for displaying song-related video or graphics. The screen 18 may also be used to display advertisements for the jukebox itself in order to attract customers thereto, to display other types of advertisements, and/or to display any other desired information.
The jukebox devices 16 (sometimes referred to as simply “jukeboxes” herein) are operable to communicate with the central server 12 through a communications network 14, such as, for example, the Internet. The jukeboxes 16 periodically communicate with the server 12 in order to provide information to the server 12 regarding the specific songs that have been played on the jukebox. The central server then uses this information in order to determine the appropriate royalties and/or other payments that are owed for songs played on each jukebox. Thus, one advantage of this new generation of jukeboxes is that the sound reproduction and/or other applicable music rights can be adhered to in a more accurate and reliable manner, thereby assuring the proper royalties are paid to the artists or music owners. The central server 12 can also provide new songs to the jukebox 16 in order to assure that the appropriate or most popular songs are maintained on the jukebox based on the specific customers at that location. Thus, the songs available on each jukebox can be customized through communication with the central server in order to provide the songs and/or types of music that customers generally request at each jukebox location. As described in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,204, the central server can also advantageously be used to update the operating software on the jukeboxes in order to, for example, change the operation of the jukebox, such as to provide new or improved features. Thus, another advantage of this new generation of jukeboxes is that the songs (or other audio and/or visual content), and the operation of the jukebox itself can be remotely changed as desired without the need to have someone (such as a routeman) personally service the jukebox. Instead, such updates can be done using the central server 12.
As indicated above, the jukebox devices 16 each include a mass storage device, such as a hard drive, which stores the songs and associated video/graphics data (if any), as well as any other desired graphical information for reproduction on the jukebox. The mass storage device of the jukebox typically has limited storage capacity relative to the storage device of the central server 12. As a result, only a fraction of the songs stored on the central server are typically stored on the mass storage device of the jukebox at any one time. There may be other reasons as well, such as for security of the data or limited room in the jukebox itself, for having limited storage capacity on the jukebox and/or limiting the number of songs stored thereon. For example, physical space may be limited on wall-mount jukeboxes or the like, which are designed to be small in size as compared to free-standing models. As explained above, the songs on the jukebox can be changed through communication with the central server, but typically any one jukebox only stores a relatively small subset of the complete library of songs maintained by the central server at any one time.
In order to maximize the revenue that a jukebox generates, it is important to make the most desired songs available on the jukebox over time. If customers cannot find songs they like on the jukebox, usage of the jukebox (and the revenue generated thereby) will dramatically decrease. On the other hand, it is impossible to predict in advance exactly what a customer at any particular location will desire to play on the jukebox. In fact, there are likely many instances where a customer would have selected a song that exists on the central server but is not currently present on the jukebox. As a result, the jukebox may not be enjoyed and used to its fullest extent. In order to address this problem and increase revenue, jukebox systems have in the past provided a feature which enables the user to search for songs on the central server from the jukebox and request an immediate download of a desired song from the central server to the jukebox for an additional fee. This feature enables the user to play any song in the master library of songs maintained by the central server using the jukebox, regardless of whether or not the specific song is presently stored in the mass storage of the jukebox itself. Thus, the user can first look for desired songs on the local storage of the jukebox and then, if desired, search further on the central server for desired songs. The jukebox device typically charges an additional fee (such as five credits instead on one credit) for an immediate download and play of a song from the central server as opposed to a standard play directly from the jukebox's local storage.
As might be discerned from the above, the “conventional wisdom” is to attempt to maximize revenues and ensure a broad-based appeal by providing more and more media offerings or songs via a jukebox. In other words, the conventional wisdom and industry thinking is to make available as many media offerings or songs as possible via a jukebox so that the one jukebox will be appropriate for any venue. The theory is based in part on the common perception that it is easier to develop a single, standard jukebox with as many offerings as possible, than to provide multiple different jukeboxes each making available a different set of limited media content. This common understanding, in turn, may have its roots in the fact that conventional, non-digital jukeboxes clearly had severely limited repertoires and that even many early digital jukeboxes has expanded repertoires that were still limited by licensing and accounting requirements, download speeds, etc.
The inventors of the instant application have recently discovered that the conventional wisdom no longer is entirely accurate and that the underlying assumptions are somewhat flawed. For example, the inventors of the instant application have recently discovered that providing more and more media offerings is not necessarily desirable in all instances. This discovery is based, in part, on the inventors' recognition that providing more and more offerings means providing more and more opportunities for patrons to play music that is inconsistent with the authenticity or identity of a location. For instance, the authenticity and identity of a “biker bar” can be severely undermined if a patron were to play what could be considered pop or “teeny-bopper” music, just as a country line dancing venue might have its authenticity and identity undermined if hip hop and rhythm and blues songs were played. The inventors of the instant application have experienced difficulties providing jukeboxes in locations for these vary reasons. Surprisingly and unexpectedly, the inventors' experiences provide evidence that the ability to selectively “filter” music by excluding songs, genres, and/or the like often is seen as an unacceptable, incomplete, and/or otherwise undesirable to proprietors of locations.
Apart from or in addition to the actual media being played, the inventors of the instant application have also discovered that the physical appearance of the utilitarian jukebox is sometimes undesirable. Indeed, the inventors of the instant application have discovered that the physical appearance of a jukebox or jukebox terminal can be undesirable simply because the device itself looks like a jukebox (e.g., has a payment acceptor, a touch screen display that selectively operates in an “attract mode,” includes flashing and/or otherwise changing neon lights, etc.). In a perhaps related matter, the inventors of the instant application have discovered that the content displayed on a jukebox or jukebox terminal also may be considered undesirable. As above, the physical appearance of the jukebox device and/or content displayed on the jukebox device may threaten to undermine the authenticity or identity of a location. As a perhaps more concrete example, it has been observed by the inventors of the instant application that so-called “ultralounges” typically react negatively towards the visual appearances of conventional jukeboxes. As another example, the inventors of the instant application have discovered that the “wrong” types of advertisements and/or media may be displayed at a given location as, for example, ultralounges stereotypically find it more desirable and “authentic” to display attractive men and women wearing fashionable clothing and accessories as compared to album art, concert advertisements, etc.
Still another discovery that the inventors of the instant application have made is that the conventional ways that people typically discover music (including songs, artists, etc.) are becoming outmoded. In addition to, or rather than, watching a music television station such as MTV or the like, listening to the radio, or paying attention to advertisements, potential patrons are discovering music in new and different ways. User interfaces that enable patrons to browse or search for music on a jukebox device typically enable browsing and/or searching based on artist name, song name, album, and/or the like. But such techniques do not necessarily result in the patron being exposed to new or different music and is still another conventional technique for music discovery. The inventors of the instant application have realized that today's potential patrons oftentimes are more interested in music discovered through non-traditional social networking outlets and/or through pure “buzz” generated on the Internet or through such social networking outlets.
Given the above discoveries and realizations, it will be appreciated that further improvements to jukebox devices can be made. It also will be appreciated that some or all of such improvements are contrary to accepted wisdom and/or industry-standard practice. For instance, providing more limited media selections probably would be seen as a “step back” when viewed through the lens of conventional thinking, whereas the inventors have realized that it actually may be considered more desirable by some to provide a more limited selection when attempting to preserve the authenticity and/or identity of a location. As another example, jukebox devices conventionally have been viewed as having one of several “classic designs” and digital jukebox devices have been designed to be “updates” to such classic designs, whereas the inventors have realized that jukeboxes are perhaps not as utilitarian or ubiquitous as they have been viewed. Still further, it will be appreciated that conventional browsing and/or searching techniques may be updated and/or replaced, e.g., to reflect newer ways that potential patrons discover and experience music.
Certain exemplary embodiments provide improvements in the form of digital jukebox devices with techniques for providing appropriate and/or customized media, and associated methods. For instance, certain exemplary embodiments may (1) provide “inclusive” filtering techniques, (2) display appropriate jukebox user interface screens and offer appropriate jukebox content, and/or (3) enable discovery of music through new portals such as new media or social networking sites, and pure buzz, etc. Certain exemplary embodiments may provide (1) attract or flight media operations, (2) browsing services, and/or (3) search screens appropriate to and/or customized for a particular user using the entertainment system, the location at which the entertainment system is being accessed, and/or a predefined event.
Such exemplary embodiments are enabled using enabled through metadata associated with recognized jukebox users, locations, instances of media, and/or particular events or locations (e.g., for a short period of time such as, for example, a single disco night). In brief, criteria may be selected for inclusion, e.g., by location staff. Such criteria may be associated with metadata associated with media to provide for selective inclusion of some media, a look-and-feel of the user interface, etc. Once an initially restricted set of media is selected for inclusion, metadata associated with a patron using the jukebox may further selectively limit the pool of media available to a given patron. Finally, metadata associated with an event may still further selectively limit the pool of media available to all patrons for a period of time. In this way, certain exemplary embodiments may begin with a master set of media provided for the overall jukebox system. However, the set of media available for a given location may be initially selected by specifying inclusion criteria. An optional custom-defined event may have metadata associated with it so as to specify yet further inclusion criteria. The overlap of the media available for the location by virtue of the initially selection and the media associated with the optional custom-defined event may then be available for playback on the jukebox(es) available at the particular location. Furthermore, when a recognized user uses the jukebox, metadata associated with the user may be used to define yet a further overlap (e.g., as in the case of three-circle Venn Diagram). The ultimate overlap may be used to limit the options available, reorder the options available to the recognized user (e.g., so that new songs are displayed first, favorite songs are displayed first, etc.).
The inclusion criteria set by a location and/or by a user may be media-specific in certain exemplary embodiments. For instance, inclusion criteria may be indicative of a genre, artist or artists, instrumentation, media popularity indexed to an outside source (e.g., Billboard Charts, plays via a social networking site such as MySpace, information gleaned from a recognized user's Facebook friends, funny videos presented on YouTube or Break.com, etc.). It will be appreciated that media-specific criteria is specific to a particular instance of media.
The inclusion criteria set by a location and/or by a user may be media-independent in certain exemplary embodiments. For instance, in certain exemplary embodiments, inclusion criteria may relate to order (newest music first regardless of popularity, most played music last, etc.), and/or the like. Such inclusion criteria may be considered media-independent in the sense that it may constitute data that is not necessarily tied to any specific or particular instance of media.
In certain exemplary embodiments, a user interface may be provided that conveys a three-dimensional (3D) effect. Such a user interface may help convey a greater sense of delving “into” the media. For instance, entry, zoom, and exit effects may be provided for media in a flight state in connection with certain exemplary embodiments. In browsing and/or search screens, media may be displayed so that it appears to zoom in or out based on, for instance, relevance, current selection, criteria matching, etc., in certain exemplary embodiments.
In general, certain exemplary embodiments relate to the inclusion of innovative user interface that help immerse the user in an interactive jukebox world where user interface elements help provide for multi-dimensional interaction with collections of instances of media, synchronized external and/or internal lightshow feedback and/or projection, play queue reveal and/or manipulation, blurring/focusing of elements, synchronized lyrics display etc. Certain exemplary embodiments described herein also include cameras and/or LEDs that may help, for example, enable artist and/or patron likenesses to be used or incorporated into jukebox interfaces, cameras to be leveraged in attract or flight modes or to serve as mirrors, lighting elements to be used as camera flashes, LEDs to simulate tactile feedback for touch screen displays or patron welcome display messages, provide a jukebox-based security system, apply contextual ads, etc. Adaptive auto-complete search recommendations may be provided in certain exemplary embodiments, as may set lists and/or enhanced collection type browsing.
The exemplary embodiments, aspects, and advantages disclosed herein may be provided in any suitable combination or sub-combination to achieve yet further exemplary embodiments.